Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857 to immediate popular acclaim, and remains the most significant study of the enigmatic author who gave Jane Eyre the subtitle An Autobiography. It recounts Charlotte Brontë’s life from her isolated childhood, through her years as a writer who had ‘foreseen the single life’ for herself, to her marriage at thirty-eight and death less than a year later. The resulting work – the first full-length biography of a woman novelist by a woman novelist – explored the nature of Charlotte’s genius and almost single-handedly created the Brontë myth.

The Life of Charlotte Bronte

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

'It is in every way worthy of what one great woman should have written of another.' Patrick Bronte Elizabeth Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte (1857) is a pioneering biography of one great Victorian woman novelist by another. Gaskell was a friend of Charlotte Bronte, and, having been invited to write the offical life, determined both to tell the truth and to honour her friend. She contacted those who had known Charlotte and travelled extensively in England and Belgium to gather material. She wrote from a vivid accumulation of letters, interviews, and observation, establishing the details of Charlotte's life and recreating her background. Through an often difficult and demanding process, Gaskell created a vital sense of a life hidden from the world. This edition is based on the Third Edition of 1857, revised by Gaskell. It has been collated with the manuscript, and the previous two editions, as well as with Charlotte Bront'e's letters, and thus offers fuller information about the process of composition than any previous edition.

The Life of Charlotte Brontë

Deborah Meades

I have always wanted to read this biography and I am glad that I now have. But it is not for the fainthearted. Some of the passages are difficult to get through (some are even in French) but try not to give up. Some passages are very illuminating, I felt like I was in Haworth Parsonage listening to the Bronte sisters. The section dealing with the deaths of Charlotte's siblings is incredibly moving.The insights into Charlotte's life through the letters she wrote are also very interesting. I have always been a Emily Bronte fan rather than Charlotte but this book has raised Charlotte in my estimation. I also wanted to read this because it is written by Elizabeth Gaskill who knew Charlotte personally and so this gives the account of Charlotte's life an extra dimension.It is a difficult book to read because of the language and the Victorian references to people who were in the news at the time but if you are a Bronte fan it really is a must read.

Jeni Enjaian

Do not read this book if you expect a biography of the sort published in the 20th and 21st century. It is a different format and not at all satisfying if one expects the above described.
I enjoyed the book but I definitely have a couple "bones to pick." One, Gaskell's chronology is quite hazy and hard to decipher. Two, one of the reasons for the first point is Gadkell's frequent insertion of Charlotte's correspondence. While fascinating to read these letters, it helps Gaskell avoid making any sort of opinion of and/or judgment call on any of her friend's choices. Haskell is deferential in the extreme. 
This book makes it easy to see why all of the books of the Brontë sisters are so utterly depressing. (Any biography would do the trick, I think.)
This book also makes me want to read an actual biography written by an unconnected third party with a bit more time than two years separating the author from the death of the subject.

Eloise

Elizabeth Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë (1857) is a pioneering biography of one great Victorian woman novelist by another. This edition is based on the Third Edition of 1857, revised by Gaskell and collated with the manuscript and the previous two editions, as well as with Charlotte Brontë's letters, offering fuller information about the process of composition than any previous edition.

The Life of Charlotte Bronte

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